“It must be really happening everywhere,” Drew said out of astonishment. Mrs. Bond slowly shook her head in agreement with her eyes opened widely and mouth ajar. It looked as if she were still in shock.
“Mrs. Bond!” Tarynn yelled. “Beetle is not looking too good back here!”
“Beetle is sick. He needs his medicine,” Drew blabbered to Mrs. Bond. He did not know why he mentioned this to her. The poor woman looked like she had dealt with all she could take.
“Tell him to hold on,” Mrs. Bond said with a flat affect, “we are almost there.”
Mrs. Bond finally made it to the exit to where she could turn onto Highway 26 again. She sharply veered onto the exit without so much as a signal. It seemed as if no one was following the rules of the road anymore. When the bus finally made it to Highway 26 the surrounding area, including businesses, resembled a disaster zone. Blazing fires reached the sky and various people scattered like clueless insects. The highway was jammed pack with automobiles honking their horns and the passengers shouting obscenities due to a four-car collision that was blocking the intersection. A middle-aged lady was holding her baby, crying loudly, and surveying the damage. Three adults were arguing amongst each other at the scene. A teenage boy was sitting down on the ground holding his injured head near his battered pick-up truck. An older woman, who reminded Drew of his Mee-maw, was holding up a cell phone in the air trying to get service.
The bus came to a stand still as Mrs. Bond contemplated what to do. There was only one way to get to the Fairgrounds. Mrs. Bond thought out loudly that she would ride the median until she could drive around the accident. Drew noticed further down the highway, where the Fairgrounds Center was located, that it was not as chaotic.
One more step closer to my Mee-maw and sisters, Drew thought. Drew’s grandmother’s house was not too far from the Fairgrounds Center. He had been praying all along that his Mee-maw was able to get to Stoney Central Elementary in time and pick up Maryann safely.
“Everybody hold on!” Mrs. Bond shouted as she floored it onto the median.
The bus hopped through the plush green grass and onto the highway with the back end of the yellow clunker knocking into the wreckage that blocked the intersection. Drew held himself between the two seats to keep from falling again. He glanced back towards the smashup and saw the lady, from the accident, with a baby running behind the bus. With the baby on one hip, she raised her free hand and waved it in an effort to flag the bus down.
Sue Ellen witnessed the incident with the lady and the baby as well. She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head as a deep depression hit her. Her usually neat ponytail was rugged and torn as it fell messily at her shoulders. The stress of the dead children rising began to chip away at Sue Ellen’s brute personality. She laid her head down on Mater’s shoulder and they continued to comfort each other as they stood in the aisle. No one knew what their fate would be.
The bus began to jerk and sputter as if it was about to cut off at any moment. Drew eyes searched everywhere for the problem and then his eyeballs flew to the gauge. Dead empty.
“We are almost out of gas,” Mrs. Bond quietly spoke.
“This can’t be happening,” Drew mumbled.
“What is going on up there?” Sue Ellen asked her eyes the size of quarters.
“You will see,” Drew shot back.
The bus stopped in the middle of the highway. They were 200 feet from the Fairgrounds Center and near the gas station. Mrs. Bond hysterically hit at the steering wheel before slowly getting up. She calmly held her hands up to get the attention of the students.
“The bus has ran out of gas.” The onset of commotion began amongst the students. She waved her hands wildly. “Shhh, Shhh. It is okay. We are not that far from the Fairgrounds. We can walk. But first we have a young man that needs medical attention—“
“Wait! He is trying to say something,” Tarynn put her ear to Beetle’s mouth as he whispered something to her. “Juice? He needs juice!”
Drew glanced over at the gas station. It seemed deserted. A car or two would occasionally pull in and gas up. That was unusual for this particular gas station. Being near two major highways, the gas station was always jammed packed with customers. A few vehicles would occasionally turn down the road where the Fairgrounds Center was located. Does this side of town know what is going on, on the other end? Drew wondered.
Mrs. Bond squeezed her way to the back towards Beetle.
“Can you walk honey?”
Beetle lazily shook his head no. His skin was as white as a piece of paper. He was clammy and cold to the touch. Beetle began to breathe deeply. His bird chest caved in and out savoring each breath.
“I need volunteers to run to that gas station over there,” Mrs. Bond pointed, “ I don’t have my purse. Tell the cashier we are having an emergency on the bus. Low blood sugar and a child needs juice.”
No one moved or uttered a word.
Drew stepped forward and raised his hand. “I will go.”
“Thanks, Drew,” Mrs. Bond said.
Mater stepped next to Drew followed by Sue Ellen. Drew looked at Tarynn. She was the last of their original group including Beetle.
“Coming?” Drew asked.
“Going to stay here with Beetle,” Tarynn gently replied.
“Alright, just close the lever behind us when we get off. We will be back in just a few,” Drew directed.
Tarynn moved up and quickly closed the door behind Drew and the girls. He turned around to see Tarynn’s eyes closed and moving her lips. She was giving them her blessings. The winds had died down and the gray sky hovered over the small town. The roads were slick from the downpour of heavy rain that had graced the town earlier. Drew, Sue Ellen, and Mater skipped over a ditch and walked to the gas station swiftly but carefully. Drew had already pulled his knife from his pocket and had it clenched tightly in his hand. I need by baseball bat, Drew thought. That is what I would feel more comfortable with.
“I am so scared,” Sue Ellen bit her lip. “I just want to see my dad and little brother. They are all I have. I really do hope they are at the Fairgrounds Center.”
Drew knew that Sue Ellen’s mother had passed away from cancer four years ago when they were in the fourth grade. It was a devastating blow to Sue Ellen who had to manage the grief on her own due to her father’s major depression.
“All of our parents, well some of our parents, or grandparents should be there. I am quite sure everything will be better in the morning once they figure out what’s causing this mess,” Drew said as they continued to walk. Deep down he knew that things were not okay and the small town of Wiggins would never be the same.
**********
“How do I tell my mom that her favorite daughter is dead? All laid out in a pool of blood in her classroom. Killed by….” Mater stopped walking. Sue Ellen ceased as well. Drew walked to Mater and grasped her hand.
“That wasn’t Marley, Mater. Marley died when she turned into one of those things. Those Eaters. That wasn’t her. None of these kids coming back to life are their old selves. The thing that lives in their bodies aren’t…. human,” Drew slowly said. “Right now we have to stay strong and keep from getting bit by those Eaters until our parents come for us. Can you stay strong?”
Mater shook her head. “Yea, Drew. For you, I can stay strong long enough to keep from breaking down. I just wish you could give me one chance,”
“What did you say?” Drew asked like he did not hear what Mater had just said.
Mater began to walk which prompted everyone else to walk. “I am starving.”
“Yea, I haven’t eaten since I left home this morning, “ Sue Ellen hoarsely replied. “Does anybody have any money?”
“Nah, I left everything, except my knife, in the classroom,” Drew said as he neared the gas pumps. A blue Toyota was at the pump with the gas hose still in the tank. An old man was sitting on the bench outside the store drinking coffee.
“Me too. No money,” Mat
er quietly said as they all continued to walk together.
“Maybe the guy will have pity on us and let us take something for a store credit,” Sue Ellen beamed.
“Yea right. Nothing is for free,” Drew smirked trying to joke with Sue Ellen.
“What you yunguns doin outta school?” The old man asked in a deep southern drawl. He had on a huge brown trench coat, which was unusual during the month of September.
“You haven’t heard what’s been going on in town?” Drew asked as he stopped to look at the old man. A bit of coffee had spilled into the old man’s beard.
“What? Robbery? Some jerk beating on his ole lady?” The old man giggled. “I know what y’all are doing. You yunguns are playing hooky!” He accused.
“Sir, don’t you see the bus back there? We just left Stoney Central Middle School where our own classmates are killing each other!” Sue Ellen shrieked. The old man seemed oblivious to the blood stained clothes and disheveled appearance of the three kids.
“Let it go. He doesn’t believe us,” Drew said as he walked into the store.
“When are you yunguns going to learn that drugs kill? And fry your brain?” The old man shouted back.
As they went into the store everything seemed normal. The clerk, a middle aged man, was behind the desk tidying up. An older teenaged boy who looked to be no more than eighteen was going back and forth as to whether or not he wanted a soda or bottled water. Drew and the girls walked up to the desk. He forced the thick saliva down his already dry throat. The food in the store had already become tempting.
“Excuse me sir,” Drew said.
The guy turned around and squinted his eyes. “Why aren’t you kids in school?”
“We have an emergency on our bus over there,” Drew pointed, “our teacher is on the bus and we need juice for a student.”
“Okay, the juice is in the second cooler to your right,” the clerk went back to cleaning up the floor.
Sue Ellen smacked her lips and went to the cooler to retrieve the juice as Drew and Mater stood there dumbfounded. Does this man watch the television? Or have a phone with the Internet? Drew wondered. He surveyed the store and noticed there was no television or cell phone in sight. Sue Ellen came back with grape juice and slammed it down on the counter. The guy jumped, startled by the noise and frowned at the trio. He slowly grabbed the juice eyeing the three and proceeded to ring it up.
“We don’t have any money,” Drew quickly said.
“I am sorry but this store doesn’t give away food,” the clerk arrogantly said.
“It’s an emergency! One of the students on the bus will die if we don’t give him something for his low blood sugar!” Drew yelled.
“Look, this isn’t the first time one of you little rug rats came in here trying to steal out of my store. If you don’t get out of here right now, I will call the police!”
“Go ahead! We have tried already!” Drew yelled back.
The clerk picked up the cordless phone and dialed 911. Two veins bulged on the clerk’s right temple. The look on the clerk’s face grew to that of bewilderment. He pressed the dial tone button and tried 911 again. Busy. He slowly placed the phone on the counter and calmly licked his lips.
“Sir, we just escaped our school where there are kids who have some crazy disease causing them to kill each other,” Drew said in one breath.
“Eat, each other…” Sue Ellen corrected.
“Yea, eat each other. I know we might sound crazy but we are the last bus to leave the school and we are headed to the Fairgrounds Center now,” Drew pleaded.
The older teenage boy walked up to the front counter and interrupted with a sarcastic laugh. “Zombies? Somebody must have gone to sleep late last night and left The Dead Walks on.” He placed two dollars on the counter top and slid it up by the grape juice. “That should cover the juice for these brats, Jerry. Kids these days will tell any story to get something for free.”
The clerk took the money and pointed towards the door. An out of control car pulled up quickly underneath the pavilion and rammed into the back of the Toyota caving the bumper in. The Toyota pressed forward yanking the gas hose out of the tank. A woman, in her mid twenties, stumbled out of the car.
“Did! She! Just! Hit! My! TRUCK?” The teenaged boy shrieked. He brought his hands to his face and rapidly rubbed his eyes to see if he was dreaming.
“Nothing that insurance won’t take care of,” the clerk nonchalantly replied.
“I cancelled my insurance last week!” The boy yelled.
The boy started on his way outside to review the damage to his truck but the woman greeted him at the door displaying a miniature bite on her hand. It looked like a snakebite with two tiny puncture wounds.
“My baby! Someone please help my baby!” The woman yelled. Her eyes were crazed and wild. Her blond hair was slick with blood.
“Goodness gracious a mercy! What on earth happened to you?” The clerk howled as he stepped from behind the counter to study the woman.
The frightened woman held her wounded hand close to her chest. The area of the skin where the puncture marks were inflicted had already turned a ghastly gray.
“Please…” The woman bit her lip and slowly pointed towards the back passenger seat. She whispered and enunciated her words so quietly that Drew could barely hear her. “There. Is. Something. Wrong. With. My. Baby.”
The clerk walked past the teenaged boy who had already followed the woman outside to the car. Drew, Sue Ellen, and Mater stayed back in the store. They intently watched, from inside the store, as the clerk peered into the car. The clerk placed his hand on the door handle but stopped when he noticed the teenaged boy talking to the dazed woman.
“Er… we need to call the police,” the boy directed towards his battered truck.
The woman blinked her eyes rapidly as she mysteriously shivered. The lady trembled so bad that her teeth clattered. Her face had darkened in color and had a waxy look similar to what the middle school teachers looked like before they died. Her breathing had picked up. She grasped her throat as if she struggled for air. The hand that had puncture marks had turned almost completely black and looked like a rotten twig compared to the rest of her skin.
“Ah. Ma’am… my dad is going to kill me!”
The shaken woman ignored the boy’s pleas and turned her attention towards the clerk. The teenager became agitated and pulled out his cell phone.
“Fine! I am calling the police!”
Before the teenager had a chance to dial 911, a miniature body that looked like a raggedy baby doll and limp blond hair, lurched out at the clerk who had had opened the door to inspect the inside of the car. It happened so fast that the store clerk fell back onto the pavement hitting his head. The toddler appeared to be about one years of age. It had latched on to the store clerk’s throat like a leech. The clerk’s body started twitching as the blood erupted from his neck like an under pressure fire hydrant. The toddler eased its mouth from the clerk’s throat and disclosed unseeing eyes and a tiny bite mark on its cheek. The child looked unreal as its gray, dull skin, and blue lips revealed spider black veins.
Sue Ellen started screaming and took off towards the back knocking over a display of cookies and chips. A big brown trench coat flapping in the wind was the only thing seen of the old man as he hastily ran towards the Fairgrounds Center. The clerk tried to scream out but could not and attempted to remove the undead toddler from his throat. The teenager, in shock, dropped his cell phone and started to run but ran into a post and knocked himself out. The woman fell down onto the pavement against her car and started having seizures.
“We gotta help him!”
Drew ran to a nearby aisle and picked up a couple of canned sausages. The clerk had stopped fighting the undead toddler and finally ceased movement. Drew was horrified as he watched the tiny Eater feast on the clerk’s neck. The woman sat up against her car frozen in time. Her body was petrified with her hand stiff against her chest. She was far gone fro
m the world and unaware of what her toddler had truly become.
Mater slowly opened the door to the gas station as Drew eased through and hurled one of the cans at the toddler. The can missed the Eater and smashed into the car window. Mater looked at Drew curiously.
“I thought you played baseball?” Mater asked wide-eyed.
“Yea, I do. Not pitcher only first base.” Drew reached back his arm, ready to throw again, “Well, I used to play baseball before I got suspended.”
Drew tried again and the can met its intended target knocking the little Eater in the center of the head. The can landed with a loud thud. The Eater tumbled over slightly but was not injured by the blow.
“I didn’t make the team because of my pitching skills,” Drew added, “It was because of my slugger home run hits.”
Drew had a grim feeling that he or anyone else may never have the chance to play baseball ever again. Before they knew it the small Eater ran towards them as fast as a bolt of lightning. It charged the door like a bull causing a big crack to run from the bottom of the door up to the top. The Eater’s skull split open in the center exposing dull, grayish matter.
Any human that would have taken a blow like that to the head would be dead by now, Drew thought.
The Eater charged again hitting the glass door and this time more cracks occurred. It opened its mouth gnashing its teeny gums, which was accompanied by its two top teeth. Drew rapidly reached for Mater. Mater thought this was the moment she had been waiting for… a confession of true puppy love. The Eater came at the glass door again full speed.
Fight or Flight. Fight or Flight, Drew quickly rationalized as he reached for his knife.
Flight!
“Um. I think we need… to RUN!” Drew yelled.
The next thing the duo heard was a loud shattering crash as all the glass came flying everywhere. The Eater crawled with amazing speed like a spider on turbo charge.
“Ouch!” Mater cried as tiny pieces of glass entered her arm.
Drew took Mater by the hand and dashed around the aisle that contained the candy bars and cookies. They hid behind a display of power energy drinks. Drew pulled a purple drink down from the display and grasped it firmly in his hands. He brought his fingers to his pouty lips as they both watch the Eater’s fast speed come to a halt. The Eater opened its mouth and let out a half whine half moan. It quietly tried to sniff Drew and Mater out.
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